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The
Sims 2

Score: 8.6 / 10

Fanatical PC Sims fans have been able to
play their favorite God game for some time now, even enjoying two great
expansion packs and awaiting another, The Sims 2: Open for Business,
momentarily. But just as with the original Sims, the home consoles are
finally populated with the Sims world again with the release of The Sims
2.

The trickiest proposition for The Sims 2 console developers is the same
as before: how to translate a decidedly single-player PC experience onto
the consoles, where multiplayer is a more prevalent aspect of gaming?
But just as before, The Sims 2 successfully provides a console God game
that transcends its single-player roots and provides a more
console-centric style (objective-based gameplay and multiplayer)
although PC Sims 2 players who own both of the PC game’s expansion
packs, University and Nightlife, will be disappointed by the console’s
less-filling

As in previous Sims console games, The Sims 2 is the ultimate in God
game freedom, allowing for the player to follow any whim and go about
leading their Sims through life at a leisurely pace if so desired
(although Sims now age from toddler to senior citizen and genetics play
a big part in their appearance).

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The Sims 2 isn’t exactly a straight port of
the PC game, because on the PC, there’s also a plethora of in-game
content, both through the original game and with the addition of the two
expansion packs, that don’t make the jump to the console. But if you
only play the Sims on a console, then you won’t even notice that PC
content is missing from its console offspring.

On the console, there was the need to console-fy the game, providing
console gamers a “goal” system. Once again you can create your own Sim,
or have the game randomly select two parents and genetically birth a Sim
with DNA-encoded traits from both. But I would recommend crafting your
own Sim, because some of the results of the random process are like
genetic experiments gone horribly awry (think the monstrosities roaming
through the campy Marlon Brando-Val Kilmer “The Island of Dr. Moreau”
movie or almost any episode of “The Jerry Springer Show” and you get the
idea).

Once your Sim is “born” you have two choices: the PC-familiar open-ended
gameplay, where you can play the game however you like, or the
for-the-console-crowd story-based gameplay, where you have specific
goals to attain in order to progress through the game. There’s also
another gameplay nod to the console gamer in the form of a two-player,
split-screen co-op mode.

There are specific goals you must attain while in story mode to open new
items and areas to explore, but they basically fall into a few familiar
categories: you must become friends (and eventually lovers) with fellow
Sims or set out on a career path and build your skills in various areas
of expertise such as cooking and mechanical. Your Sim has wants and need
to fill, fears to avoid, as well as the basic life requirements of
eating, sleeping and cleanliness (including using the bathroom on a
regular basis) to survive. But socializing and networking is the main
goal-oriented road to Sims 2 success.

One of the most obvious differences between playing a PC game versus a
console game is the translation of mouse & keyboard controls to a
console controller. Just as in previous Sims console versions, the same
basic movement controls, where you move the glowing cursor to the
desired spot where you want your Sim to go and then watch him or her
move there applies in The Sims 2. But this time, you can enter into a
third-person, real-time control schematic that all console action gamers
will be at home with. This is a preferred method of movement, but it has
a slight schizophrenic feeling to it if you use the “speed up” control
to rapidly advance the slow-paced gameplay. It speeds you up too fast,
and you’ll find yourself walking into walls and other items throughout
your Sims domicile.

Visually The Sims 2 is an improvement from previous Sims console games,
especially in the sometimes-racy but superb animations that go along
with Sims interactions that are at the very center of the gameplay. But
even on the Xbox, somehow the game’s graphics fall short of the PC
version. Not a humongous falloff in the eye-candy, but discerning Sims
gamers who have put in a lot of time with The Sims 2 in its PC form will
notice.

Load times are the game’s most annoying issue. When you move between
different locales in the game, you’ve got to wait through a delay while
the game loads the new level. That’s to be expected. But while it’s not
really a load time per se, waiting for the game to stop your current
activity and switch to the next involves a waiting time that is enough
to exasperate even the most patient of Sims gamers.

While Sims 2 PC players will be able to notice what’s missing from the
game’s PC inspiration, console-only Simmers will find The Sims 2 to be
the best console rendition of the series yet. Better graphics,
animations and gameplay (both free-roam and story-driven single-player
and split-screen two-player) combine with the usual Sims God game
goodness for a respectable console version of a very good PC game.